Parenting

Parenting.  Possibly one of the hardest jobs out there.  Mainly because you get all sorts of "advice" from all sorts of people whether you like it or not, but who's right and who's wrong.  Well there may not be a cookie cutter answer but there are some pretty good ideas out there.

There are three main parenting styles out there: Permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative.  Let me just give you a hint: you want to be an authoritative parent.  Authoritarian is like mother Gothel.  It's more of a dictator style.  What I say goes, no questions asked kind of mentality.    

Permissive parenting would be like Georgina's mom from Mean Girls.  It's more of a doormat style.  This parent just allows their child to do whatever.    

When a parent is more permissive the other will usually try to commentate and become more authoritarian.  The key is to discuss how you will parent with your spouse so that you both are on the same page and your children won't go to one or other to get what they want.

And then you have your authoritative parenting style.  This is an active parenting style.  There is open communication and yet there is still respect within the relationship between parent and child.  It's a little more like this...

It can take a while to master this parenting style but just remember that the objective of parenting isn't to punish and control behavior but to teach.